


Apartment #303 (in C for Troy and Abed)

by adorations



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Getting Together, M/M, Moving In Together, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:33:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26427916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adorations/pseuds/adorations
Summary: One year after Troy moves into Hawthorne Mansion, Abed changes his mind.
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 20
Kudos: 200





	Apartment #303 (in C for Troy and Abed)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is very heavily inspired by the song Chateau #4 by Father John Misty. 
> 
> special shoutout to everyone in the server who helped me figure some stuff out for this fic, ily
> 
> please leave a comment and kudos if u enjoyed!!

On the first morning after everything changed, Abed moved out of bed as slowly as possible. 

Troy knew this because Abed's ginger movements woke him. As he moved out of the bottom bunk, climbing over Troy, the covers got wrapped around Abed and dragged off of Troy’s body, pulling him out of his dream and into the present. 

Abed stood in the center of the room, hastily pulling a shirt on and squinting at his phone. Troy blinked away sleep until Abed was fully dressed and looking right at him. 

“Oh,” he said. “You’re awake.” 

“Kind of,” Troy responded. “Hi.” 

“Hi,” Abed said, a bit softer than before. "Sorry. Emergency AV meeting. I've got to go."

Troy fought a yawn. "What's an AV emergency?"

Abed shrugged. "Not sure yet. Probably someone just checked out a camera and forgot to return it, but they like to keep me updated on things like this." 

"That's cool that they trust you like that," Troy said. "You should go check it out." 

"You can stay as long as you want," Abed said. "But I'll probably be back in 30 minutes. Maybe an hour." 

Troy nodded and Abed grabbed his bag and left. 

The door closed behind him. Troy stretched out his limbs, considered his options, and pulled the covers back over his body. 

Abed had nice blankets. They were soft on Troy’s skin, which was nice, because at that moment he was only wearing boxers. The rest of his clothes were scattered in piles around the dorm, wherever Abed had thrown them the night before. 

The night before...

Troy shivered as he remembered.

He could get up, he knew. But being in Abed’s bed felt really good. It smelled like him. It was comfortable. And safe. 

So he waited there until Abed came back. Before long, the door swung back open and for a moment, Abed looked taken aback.

"You're still here,” he said.

Troy sat up. "You said I could stay as long as I want."

"Well, yes," said Abed. "But I wouldn't have blamed you if you wanted to leave. Go home to Pierce's mansion or something. Or just to clear your head." He pursed his lips. "If you needed some space."

"You told me to stay as long as I want," Troy repeated. He leaned backwards on the pillow, propping himself up with one elbow. "I'm never leaving this bed again."

Abed blinked, first tilting his head to the side and and then staring at him with wide eyes. The tip of his tongue appeared as just a sliver between his lips as he seemed to ponder over Troy's words. 

If he had been anyone else, Troy may have thought he was reacting neutrally — or not reacting at all. But he wasn't anyone else, _they_ weren't anyone else, they were Troy-and-Abed, and they understood each other on levels nobody else would ever reach. So Troy knew what it meant when Abed's eyes were that wide, when he was bouncing on the balls of his feet, when the corners of his lips curved upward—

And suddenly, Abed was dropping his messenger bag to the ground and racing toward the bed, toward _Troy,_ and struggling to pull his hoodie off in the process. It ended up off his body and on the ground next to them by the time Abed was in the bed, half his weight on Troy and a hand on either side of his face before Troy could even process what was happening. 

"I'm going to kiss you now," he said, inches from Troy's lips. "Again. I'm going to kiss you again."

"Yes," Troy breathed. "Please."

And Abed did. He kissed Troy without moving his hands from his face, the tips of his fingers meeting Troy's hairline and his thumbs cradling his jaw, rubbing small circles on his jawline. Troy initially meant to lean up and meet him, but truthfully, he was still tired from the night before and Abed made it so easy to fall backwards onto the bed, to rest underneath his grasp and to trust him as he did so.

"You're kissing me," Troy said, sighing as Abed reached the pulse point on his neck. "We kiss each other. That's something we do now."

"We’ve already done a bit more than that, as I remember," Abed said before he froze, his head hovering just above Troy's skin, no longer touching or kissing him.

Troy shifted underneath Abed's weight. He brought a hand up to tangle in his hair and lightly massage the back of his head. It surprised him, how easy it was to hold Abed. But he supposed that made sense. Everything was easier with Abed.

"Hey, buddy," Troy said, craning his neck and trying his best to look at him. "What're you thinking?"

"I'm thinking a lot of things," Abed said. "So many things. Everything."

"What's the big thing, then?" Troy asked. "What's making you..." With his free hand, Troy tapped the wrinkles in the center of Abed's forehead from his furrowed eyebrows. "...do that?"

"You're still here," Abed said, not answering the question but sounding like he had. His hand stretched across Troy's chest and felt his bare skin. He swallowed harshly. "You're... you didn't even get dressed."

Troy shrugged. "You said you'd be back soon. 

"I told you that so you knew when to be gone," said Abed. "If you were looking to avoid any further conversation."

"Should I have gotten up?" Troy was suddenly seized by the fear that he'd done something wrong. "I can head out if you have stuff you need to do."

Abed shook his head, moving back into the crook of Troy's neck and pressing his face there. 

"People usually leave," Abed said. The words came out muffled, directly into Troy's skin. "You're still here." 

His words hit Troy on a delay. He felt like he had been knocked over by a boomerang in a cartoon. 

"Yeah, buddy." Though the bed was small and they were already close, Troy wished Abed were completely under the covers with him right that second. "I'm still here."

Abed curled up against his side, save for one leg which still laid across Troy's calves, anchoring him like a paper weight, which Troy was glad for, because he felt like he may float away any second, like...

"Fizzy lifting drinks," he didn't mean to say out loud. "Damn it. I didn't mean to say that out loud. It made sense in my head."

"I get it," Abed said seriously. "Fizzy lifting drinks. Like you'll float away and hit the ceiling. Me too." 

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Abed momentarily slipped into his best Gene Wilder voice. "So shines a good deed in a weary world."

Abed pressed another kiss right below Troy's jawline and before getting up out of bed again. 

"What're you doin'?" Troy asked him.

"Making you breakfast," Abed answered. He pulled out a cereal box and began pouring two bowls. "Probably should've done that first. Also, in most movies it's eggs, but I don't have any way to make them here in the dorms."

"Cereal's perfect," Troy said, sitting up slightly to accept the bowl from Abed. He happily put a spoonful into his mouth. "It's very you. Very Abed." 

"Very Troy and Abed," Abed added. He sat on the ground next to the bed, as close as he could be without physically being in it. "It's on brand for us." 

Troy smiled, and Abed took away his bowl when he was finished. When he returned to the bed, Troy threw back the covers, exposing his own body and patting the space next to him. 

Abed's lips quirked upward into a small smile again. "You weren't joking," he said. "You're really not leaving, are you?"

"Not if you're here with me," Troy said happily. Abed climbed over him, once again depositing half of his body weight onto Troy and resting with his head in the crook of Troy's neck. He felt Abed press another kiss there, in the space where his neck and shoulder met. 

"We'll have to get up eventually," Abed said, settling in even further and earning a groan from Troy. "Pierce will wonder where you are, I'm sure."

Troy groaned again, even louder this time. "I don't want to think about that right now. It's been really weird over there ever since paintball. He hardly even talks to me. I just want to think about you."

“I can arrange that,” Abed said, kissing him again.

And he was right, because the moment Abed kissed him again, all thoughts of anything other than Abed were gone from Troy’s brain.

Abed squeezed his arms around Troy's torso. “So this is something we do now.”

"Yeah, I– Yeah. I mean, I'd like to. I like this."

"Cool. Cool, cool, cool. I do, too." Abed nodded. "And you don't... You don't regret last night?"

"No. No, not at all. Do you..."

"No," Abed said firmly and quickly. "No, I don't. I liked it a lot, actually."

Troy settled. "Yeah, me too."

"I've wanted this for a long time," Abed said quietly. “A really long time.”

Troy paused. "Yeah, I... I think I have, too." He took another moment to process it all again, Abed laying so close, his lips on Troy's skin, the hazy memories from the night before where Abed had touched him in the only way they had never touched each other before. How right it had felt. "I definitely have. I just didn't realize it, I think."

"It's not just sex," Abed said abruptly. 

"Hm?" Troy found himself caught off guard. 

"It's not just about sex for me," Abed repeated. He had lifted himself up and used his forearms to prop himself above Troy, their noses almost touching. "I _like_ you. You're... you're you."

"Abed," said Troy, "I really, really, _really_ like you."

"And you're still here."

"I'm still here."

"So, logically," Abed said, "we could keep going, then. We could be dating. We could keep doing this. We both want to."

"Yeah," Troy said, unable to hide his smile. "Yeah. Yes. Please, yes, let's do that. Yes."

He did his best to lean up and kiss him, and when he rested his head back down on the pillow, Abed followed, still chasing after the kiss. 

"But, um," Troy said, momentarily breaking away. "Maybe this could be something that's just for us? For right now, at least."

"You don't want to tell the study group," Abed deduced. He nodded. "That makes sense. When our show diverges into emotional plot lines regarding relationships, that can be when people get the most intense."

Troy nodded excessively. "Yeah, like the beginning of this year, with Jeff and Britta and–"

"Say no more," Abed said. "You're right. We can wait."

"This can be just for us." Troy smiled up at him. 

"Move in with me," Abed said quickly. "We should live together."

"I wanted to!" Troy said. "I tried, remember?"

Abed squeezed his eyes shut. "Yes."

Troy noted this and pulled back his tone. "Isn't that against your own rules?"

"I didn't make the rules, I just adhere to them," said Abed. "If there were a moment for us to have jumped the shark, I think this would've been it. So far, the results are better than I could've hoped for. And we're about to take a season break. No need to worry about audience reaction."

"You really want to live with me?"

"Yes," Abed said earnestly. "Always." 

"But—"

"Always," Abed repeated, and Troy melted. Abed's thumb caressed his cheek. "I've got to move out of the dorms for summer soon. We could find a place together. I've got some money left from when I was working for my dad."

"I've got some money, too," Troy admitted, somewhat embarrassed. "Not a lot, but Pierce doesn't really have a good sense of finances? And of what normal things cost? Sometimes he sends me to run some errands and he tells me to keep the change but uh... he gives me a lot of money for groceries."

"Hm," Abed hummed. "That's very Lucille Bluth of him. You should see if he'll still do that even if you're moved out."

"I doubt it," Troy said. "I mean, I can always try and find a summer job or something."

"A summer job to help pay for our apartment. An apartment for us." Abed tilted his head again, studying Troy like he was trying to memorize every detail. Troy never felt more wanted than when Abed looked at him like that. "We're not moving too quickly, are we? I want to make sure we're absolutely on the same page, and also that we're not skipping steps. That seems to be an issue on a lot of sitcoms. And I don't want to be entrapped in any miscommunication tropes right off the bat." 

"It's not too quick for me." Now it was Troy's turn to stroke a finger across Abed's face. "I don't know. I guess I'm not great at knowing this kind of stuff, but it feels really right with you." 

Abed smiled gratefully. He returned to his original task: Peppering lazy (and yet still very focused) kisses to Troy's neck. 

"This is us," Troy said blissfully. "This is Troy-and-Abed. _Oh._ " He cut himself off when Abed reached a particularly sensitive spot and bit lightly.

Abed hung his head and hid it in Troy's skin again. "I've never done this," he whispered. 

"Really?" Troy asked. "It seemed like you were pretty.... familiar."

"I don't mean sex." Abed's face was hidden in a way that no matter how Troy craned his neck, he still couldn't see it properly — just his side profile, avoiding eye contact. "I mean this. All of this. Troy and Abed. Best friends. Roommates. Lovers." If Troy didn't know better, he may have missed the small blush spreading across Abed's cheeks. 

"I've never really done this either," Troy agreed. "Not with... There's no one else like you."

"Other people are boring," Abed said. "They're predictable in a way that's mundane and yet they're unpredictable in a way that's scary. But you..." Abed paused, seeming to be at a momentary lost for words. "It's not like that with you." 

Troy felt his heartbeat pick up in his chest, thumping so hard he wondered if Abed could feel it. "I know what you mean," he said. "You make sense to me. You make all of this make sense."

Abed's eyes shone with recognition. "Yes. That's exactly how I feel. That's it exactly."

It was Troy's turn to kiss him, pulling him closer and then rolling them both over so that he was leaning over Abed, who accepted it, awestruck and excited for a few minutes before he suddenly gained a new surge of energy, flipped Troy back over, and slid a hand underneath his back, pressing it between Troy and the mattress.

"You'll move in with me." He inflected as if it were a statement, but he looked at Troy like it was a question. 

"Yeah," Troy laughed. "Yeah, buddy, of course I'll move in with you."

"Cool," Abed said, eyes wide with glee. "Cool, cool, cool. There's a lot we need to figure out—"

"Yeah..."

"—But for right now, I think you had the right idea," Abed continued. He settled back down, more permanently this time, resting on top of Troy and tangling their legs together. Abed was still wearing his jeans and the denim was cold against his bare skin, but Troy didn't mind too much. He figured they'd fix that later. "We should just stay here today."

"Wait. The AV department doesn't need you? What about the emergency?"

"They'll live," Abed said decisively. "It's mostly taken care of. Besides, I have more urgent matters to attend to." 

Troy hummed happily — somewhat sleepily — and let himself relax. Abed was right. This was the most important thing he could be doing that day.

***

It wasn't hard to find a place. They'd only seen a few apartments before settling on theirs — 303. The palindrome was good luck, Abed told him. And he had an awesome idea for the spare bedroom, he said. Also, once Abed's dad started helping them out, it was within their price range, which was lucky.

"Dreamatorium," Troy said, when it was just the two of them in the empty second bedroom. _Their_ empty second bedroom. "Sounds awesome."

Abed smiled.

***

Bunk beds were _awesome_ and Troy couldn’t understand why a person _wouldn't_ want to sleep in them. When they wanted to sleep separately (when Abed's skin was crawling, when Troy had an early morning shift and didn’t want to wake him, when Troy was too sleepy to watch whatever movie Abed had pulled up on his laptop) they could be apart while still being close. Sometimes, on those nights, when it was really quiet, he could listen closely for Abed's breathing and use that rhythm to help him fall asleep. Sometimes Abed dangled a hand off the side of the bed and Troy could reach up and hold it, even if just for a moment.

As for the rest of the time, the twin mattress may have been small, and he may have occasionally awoken mid-fall as he slid to the ground, but it was all worth it because the smaller mattress size only brought them closer together. Or at least, that's how Troy liked to look at it.

***

He wasn't supposed to recognize holidays, but the holidays he and Abed celebrated were so obscure he wasn't even sure they counted. Besides, Troy reasoned, there were a lot of other rules he wasn't terribly concerned with following, so he was fairly certain it was okay for him to binge watch all the Jaws movies with Abed on Shark Awareness Day and listen lovingly as he complained about the decrease in quality as they went.

National Friends' Day was a fun one as well, even though they're decidedly more than just friends. They decided it still counted, because they were each other's best friends before anything else, and still, as Abed reminded him all the time, Troy was his best friend in the whole world. 

It was nice to be reminded of that.

***

Abed had an extensive closet full of costumes, which Troy was convinced had some sort of spell on it that made it bigger on the inside like the X-7 Dimensionizer.

Once, he modeled an old thrift shop wedding dress for a Kickpuncher scene. The second the scene ended, Troy pushed him up against their kitchen counter and let his hands wander underneath the dress, pushing it up to Abed's waist and grabbing at his hips. He kissed him hungrily, maybe with left over energy from the scene and maybe just pure, unadulterated joy from looking at Abed. 

Abed, who had made it up on the counter by that point, wrapped his legs around him, linking his ankles and pulling Troy in closer. His hands reached around and grabbed at Troy's ass, earning an almost embarrassing half-gasp, half-whimper from Troy that went directly into Abed's lips. Troy's head flew back, which only exposed his neck for Abed to attach himself to.

"This is a really nice dress and all," Troy managed when his brain returned to him, "but I think we should get it off of you as soon as possible."

"It's not that nice," Abed said. "It was the cheapest one in the thrift store. Someone probably died in it."

"Don't care," Troy panted. "You look good. With or without it."

Abed pawed at him possessively which made Troy groan again. "I'd wear something different if it were you and me."

"Hm?" Troy's mind had been focused on the position of Abed's fingers and he had processed his words on a delay. 

"If it were you and me getting married instead of Sarah and Kickpuncher," Abed clarified, "I'd wear something different."

Troy froze. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Abed's eyes flickered to the floor. 

Troy softened. "I'd wear something else, too. If it were us."

Abed's lips twitched. "You look good as Kickpuncher, though." 

"Well, I think you look good, too," Troy said. "But if it was us... I'd want it to be ourselves." 

Abed nodded, understood. "Cool. Cool, cool, cool."

***

_Nadir-Barnes_ appeared on all the scratch paper in their apartment. Post-it notes, junk mail, all of Troy's notebooks. Also _Barnes-Nadir, Troy Nadir,_ and _Troy and Abed._ Occasionally, an extra heart would appear next to it that Troy didn't draw himself.

***

Abed liked it cold in the apartment. Troy discovered that quickly. He liked it cold enough that he could comfortably wear a hoodie or his flannel pajamas at any given moment. Which wasn't _cold_ cold, Troy supposed, but it was cooler than he was used to. But he was okay with it. He liked how comfortable Abed looked bundled up at night. He liked the excuse to hold him a little bit closer in the early morning.

***

"Ugh," Troy said as he worked through their groceries, "I hate broccoli."

"Then why'd you get it?" Abed asked.

"I don't know," Troy realized. "I guess it was just always around."

Abed shrugged. "I hate broccoli, too. So I don't buy it."

Troy's eyes widened. He set the broccoli down. "Hey, yeah, you're right! I don't need to get broccoli." Abed was so smart. "Thanks, man."

***

They brushed their teeth together every night and most mornings. Occasionally their arms bumped into each other, Abed's elbow poking Troy's side and making him laugh.

He usually waited to kiss Abed again afterwards, because Abed's toothpaste was unflavored and Troy's was mint, and Abed didn't like the taste. Most of the time he was still good to kiss him good night, but regardless, it didn't take long before Troy was ready to switch to unflavored toothpaste for the rest of his life.

***

"Pip, pip!" Troy said in an exaggerated English accent. He lifted his pinky and he shoved another piece of buttered toast into his mouth. "Cheerio!"

Abed laughed from across the table. He answered in a slightly more naturalistic accent. "Excellent form, my lord."

"My lord," Troy said breathlessly, instantly dropping the accent. 

Abed raised an eyebrow. "Hm. Noted."

***

Troy arrived home still in his frozen yogurt uniform, and Abed was there to greet him.

"Hi. You look handsome," he said as if it was a fact, as if he didn't wear the same uniform almost everyday. 

Troy felt his cheeks flush. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," said Abed, unphased. "It's true. How was work?" 

"Fine. I saw the Dean, actually. Apparently he's thinking of doing a day camp for kids at the school next month. He needs counselors."

"Is he?"

"Yeah. He wanted me to apply," Troy said slowly. "I think I might."

"It sounds fun. Why the hesitation?"

"I don't know," Troy said. "Kids are scary? Adorable, but also kinda scary. I don't know if they'd listen to me."

"They're like smaller adults," Abed said. "Small people."

"Exactly. Still scary."

Abed nodded solemnly. "Still scary." He paused. "I think you'd be good at it, though, if you wanted to. All data suggests that small children would like you."

Troy tilted his head. "Do you simulate that a lot?"

Now it was Abed's turn to blush. "Yeah. Sometimes."

“That’s cool,” Troy said. “So do I.”

***

"I could live with you forever," Troy said in the blanket fort one day, the words spilling out of him without any plan to speak. "I could do this until the end of time."

Abed hovered above Troy, who laid flat on his back. He smiled, lips quirking upward. "That's a long time."

"Yeah," Troy said. He slid his hands up to rest on Abed's thighs. "That's what I want."

"Me too," Abed exhaled. "Me too."

***

"Speaking of figuring things out, Abed and I have an announcement."

Troy looked out at the study group. They'd be okay, no matter what. He just knew it. 

He bit his lip. 

"Troy and I are living together."

"Oh, that's nice!"

Shirley was right. It really, really was.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks y’all, and as always, please leave a comment and kudos if you enjoyed it!


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